Knitting-machine.



KN-ITTING MACHINE.

APPLIUATIoN FILED MAB. 22, nmz.

7 SHEETS-amm L N0 MODEL.

im fm No. 739,708. PATENTE) SEPT. 22, 1903.4' E. PRKINSQN.

KNITTING MACHINE. Annunci: FILED u1z. 22.iso2.

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VW l/m e@ PATB-,NTED SEPT. 2 2, 1903. E. PARKINSO'N. KNITTING MACHINE. AIPLIGATION FILED MAB. 22,1902.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

'ma Nonsxs sans co., Pum'numn. wAsum PATENTED SEPT. 22, 1903` Et PA'EKINSN. A KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLIQATIONPILED MAB. zz, 1902.

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v E. PARKINSON. KNITTING MASHINB. APPLICATION I ILED MAB. 22. 19'02.

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y L?? 7K8/ Nm 739,708. PATBNTBD SEPT. 22, 1903.

` E. PARKINSON; l

KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLIATIO FILED IAR. 22. 1902.

H0 IODEL. 'l SHEETS-SHEET 7..

No. veavos.

UNITED STATES- Patented Septernber 22, 190.

PATENT OEEICE.

KNiTTiNe-MAoi-lms.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters atent No. 739,708, dated September 22, 1903. Application filed March 22, 1902.l Serial. No. 99,402. (No model) invented certain new and useful Improvements in Knitting-Machines, of lWhich the following is a specification.

illy invention relates to irnprovementsinV knitting-machines, and more particularly to improvements in single-plate straight-knitting machines, the object of my invention being to furnish, first, a straight-knitting machine the capacity of which will be in a given time substantially double that'of the ordinary straight single-plate machine; second, -to furnish a knitting machine with means whereby two threads will be successively engaged by the needles to form a fabric in different colors in either a plain stitch, in a tuck-stitch, in a cross-stitch, or in any combination desired of these stitches; third, to furnish means for the convenientand rapid substitution of diierent-colored threads for' any particular thread being operated upon; fourth, to furnish improved and positive means for lifting and closing the latches ofk the needles; fifth, to furnish improved and positive means for opening the needle-latches, and, sixth, to furnish certain other improvements in this class of machine, which will be' hereinafter fully described.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in which similar characters of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a plan of my improved knitting-machine; Fig. 2, a frontelevation of Fig.1; Fig. 3,a front elevation, and Fig. 4 a side elevation, of the front thread-carrier; Fig. 5, afront, and Fig. 6 a side, elevation of the rear thread-carrier; Fig. 7, a plan of the needle-bed and needles; Fig. 8, a section of Fig. 7 on line 8 8; Fig. 9, a side elevation of the long, and Fig. 10 a side elevation of the short, needles; Fig. 11, alplan of the bottom of the cam-plate, show'- ing the needle-operating cams; Fig. 12, a-section of Fig. 11 on line 12 12; Fig. 13, a top plan of cam-plate; Fig. 14, a front elevation of Fig. 13; Fig. 15, a section of Fig. 13 online 15 15; Fig. 16, afront elevation of the stops for limiting the movements oi' the. threadthe lever 5 firmly in place.

carrier supports and of the means for carrying these stops; Fig. 17, a plan of Fig. 16; Fig. 1S, a front, and Fig. 19 a side, elevation of the knives for positively opening the latches ot the needles; Fig. 20, a side elevation of the device for holding the Work against the voutward thrust of the needles and the means for'carrying the same; Fig. 21, a front, and Fig. 22 a side, elevation of. the knife for closing the latches of the needles and preventing their ends from engaging the fabric; Fig. 23,' a perspective view showing the needle-bed, needles, thread-carriers, and pressers or controllers for the needle-latches.

1 is the frame of the machine; 2, the cam race or guide, which forms part of or which may be bolted to the frame.

3 is the needle-bed, which is arranged at right angles to the cam-race. The needle-bed is furnished with a rearwardly-proj ecting tail 4, Figs. 7 and 8, to the outer end of which is pivoted one end of a lever 5, which is pivotally carried at 6, the other end of this lever .being furnished with an operating-handle 7.

8 S are set-screws carried by lever 5, one

von each side of the fulcrurn 6, which are adaptled to engage the outer side of the cam-race or some other convenient fixed part to hold By loosening the screws 8 8 the lever 5 maybe moved so as to move the needle-bed in or out to adjust the throw of the needles, or the outer end of the lever may be furnished with a spring a, Fig.

i 1, which will normally hold one of the stops 8 against its bearing, permitting the needlerace to be thrown in or out at will by rocking the lever 5 by the hand.

l 9, Figs. l, 11, 12, 13, 14, is the cam-plate. In the drawings this plate is shown furnished with a pin'lO, Figs. 1 and 2, to which is pivoted one end of a connecting-rod 11, the other end of which is pivoted at 12 to a 'crankl3, which is adapted to be turned by hand in order toreciprocat-e the cam-plate in the carnrace 2; but it will be understood thatthecamplate may be reciprocated in any other suitable and convenient manner either by hand or by power.

The cam-plate 9 carries upon its bottom two sets of cams 14 15, (best shown in Figs. 11 and 13,) which are similar in contour and one directly back of the other, the cam 14 being adapted to operate the short needles 16 and the cam 15 the long needles 17. Each cam is a double one-that is, each cam as itis passed backward and forward across the needles and fully opened is adapted to cause each needle during each single passage to make two complete movements or reciprocations.

The long and short needles may be placed side by side, first a long one, then a. short one, then a long one, and so on, or in any other desired way, and as the cams cause each needle to make two complete reciprocations for each single complete movement of the camplate and as the machine carries two threads to the needles, as presently described, it is adapted to turn out in a given time double the work of these single-thread machines whose cams are single and cause but one reciprocation of the needles for each pass of the cam-plate and which use but one thread at a time.

In order that I may form upon my machine a variety of stitches, Iplace at each end of each of the cams 14 l5 latches 18 19 20 21, which can be thrown so as to change the cams and vary the length of stitch. If the latches be thrown as shown in Fig. 11, for instance, the long needles operated by cam 15 will when the cam-plate is passed from right to left rst make a full stitch and then a full stitch, while the short needles actuated by cam 14 will first make a full stitch, which will be followed by a half or tuck stitch. On the return movement the operation will be reversed-that is, the long needles will first make a full stitch and then a tuck-stitch, while the short needles will make first a full stitch and then a full stitch. It will be seen that other combinations will be formed by throwing the latches so as to cut oi or open the cams to form regular or tuck stitches at other intervals.

The latches are carried upon stems 22, which pass up through the cam-plate 9 and which carry upon their upper ends arms 23 24, which are adapted to be engaged by stops 25 26, carried upon rods 27 28, carried by the top of the cam-plate 9.` The rods 27 28 being moved back or forth will cause the stops to engage such of the arms 23 24 as may be necessary to operate such latches as may be required to change the cams to vary the throw of the needles to from either a full'or a tuck stitch.

The stems 22 are surrounded by coilsprings 29,Fig. 14, which always tend to normally throw the stems and latches so that the cams will be completely openthat is, to form full stitches. 'When the stops 25 26 engage the arms 23 34 to cause the latches to close o a certain portion of the cams, the

ends of the arms being squared rest upon` the fiat tops of the stops, which prevents any movement of the latches during the engagement of the arms and stops.

It will be observed that I use the stitchcams for forming the tuck-stitch instead of the rising cams, as is usual. For certain kinds of work the stitch-cam could be made so that one side of it would operate upon one pass of the cam-plate to cause the needles to form a tuck-stitch, while the other side of it would act upon the opposite pass 0f the cam-plate as a rising cam for the needles. In the drawings the stitch-cams are shown tted with latches 18 19 20 2l, which permit a rapid change of the cams from full-stitch to tuck-stitch cams. Itwill be seen, however, that the latches may be omitted if the stitch-cams are required to form only tuckstitches.

30 3l are the thread-carriers, which are placed at the front of the machine, the latter to the rear ofthe former, as shown in Fig. 1. Both thread-carriers are adapted to be reciprocated horizontally across the face of the machine. They are both furnished with a perforated head 32, through which the thread passes, which is carried on the lower end of springs 33, which are furnished with slots 34, through which pass set-screws 35, which pass into arms 36, which are secured to reciprocating slides or carriages.

39 is the reciprocating slide or carriage which carries the front thread-carrier; 38, a rod or guide carried by the cam-plate 9, upon which slide 39 is carried and upon which it can slide.

37 is the reciprocating slide or carriage which carries the rear thread-carrier; 40,a rod or guide carried by cam-plate 9, upon which slide 37 is carried and upon which it can slide.

The slides 39 37 are held frictionally upon their respective carrying-guides 38 40, but not so tight but that they can be moved thereon, as presently described.

41 42, Fig. 1, are adjustable stops secured to rod or guide 40 by'set-screws 43 or otherwise.

44 is a square-ended ,notcha in the front of the carrying-slide 37.

45 46 are springs carrying at their inner or free ends stops 47 48, which are adapted to engage alternately with the notch 44 in slide 37.

49 50 are lifting-camsfor stops 47 48, carried, respectively, by stops 41 42.

As has before been stated, the guide or slide 37, which carries the rear thread-guide, is held frictionally upon the rod 40, and under ordinary circumstances it would travel backward and forward with the cam-plate 9 and the rod 40, which is carried by the camplate. It is, in fact, so permitted to travel when it is desired to have in the fabric two threads of the same color side by side; but if it be desired to have two colors alternating the guide or carrier37 is arrested at a certain point in its travel to permit the front threadcarrier to pass it.

If the stops 47 48 are arranged to engage the notch in the slide 37 and the cam-plate 9 and connected parts are moving from right to left, the stops 50 will push the slide 37 in front of IOO IZO

it until the cam-plate reaches the end of its stroke, at which time the stop'47 drops into the notch On the return stroke the stop 47, engaging the end of notch 44, holds the slide 37 still until the cam 49, passing in under stop 47, lifts it clear of the notch, at which time the stop 41 engages the leftfside of the y slide 37 and moves it from left to right until the cam-plate?) has reached lthe end of-this stroke, when the stop 48 drops into notch 44 and holds the slide until the cam 50, carried by stop 42, comes along and lifts it out and the stop 42 carries the slide again to the left.

While the rear thread-guide is being intermittentiy reciprocated, as described above, the front thread-guide is also being reciprocated. Itis carried, as before stated, by a sliding carrier 39, which is carried on a rod or guide 40, carried by the cam-plate 9.

.51 52, Figs. 2 and 16, are stops carried by the frame of the machine.

. gers of a glove are to be knitted to the hand,

53 54 are arms depending from carrier 39, which are adapted when the carrieris moved to the left or to the righ-t to engage the stops' 5l 52 to arrest the movement of the carrier and thread-guide until the motion of the camplate is reversed, when the carrier is moved with it to the other end of the Amachine until .it is stopped by the other stop-say 52en gaging the arm 54 and arrestingthe movement of the carrier 39 in this direction.

The stops for the carriers 37 39 are so ar-A ranged that at the ends of their strokes the front carrier 39 will be the iirst moved and it will continue to move until the front threadguide has passed the rear one, when the rear guide will commence to move and they willv be then moved together untilthey have both been moved completely across the front of the needle-race, when the front guide will be moved back, passing in front of the rear guide, after which this latter guide will com- 1 the end of each stroke of the machine.

It will be seen that by throwing the stops 47 48 and 5l 52 into or out of action different combinations may be made.

Two white threads'and one black thread# may be made to appear in the finished fabric, two black threads and one white, two white and two black, and so ou.

' In working on a thick fabric, when the nfor instance, (it being understood that, as

usual, the hand is rst made upon a machine which knits this part only and is then transferred to the machine which knits the lingers,) it is necessary to provide means for preventing the ends of the latches from engaging the fabric when the needles are drawn into the needle-bed, an accident that would spoil the fabric and break the needles. In order Ato prevent accidents of this nature, I make use of a shield 55, Figs. 1, 2, 21, 22, and 23, which is placed just in advance of theV forward end of the needle-bed and which engages the latches as the needles are drawn into the bed, eiectually preventing their ends from piercing the fabric and at the same time serving to positively close the latches.

As my machine is a straight-knitting machine, and as it is furnished with cams adapted to give to the needles two reciprocation's for each single pass of the cam-plate-that is, two reciprocations upon each pass of the cam' plate to the left and two reciprocations upon each pass of the cam-plate to the right and with two thread-carrier guides adapted to Acarry each a thread to the needles, the one always in advance of the other, and as I use but a single shield for the purposes above'described, this shieldl has to be of such form as to operate equally Well when running backward or forward.

In order that the shield may operate upon the latches equally well upon either its forward or backward stroke, it has the same form upon both its right and left sides, its form being particularly well shown in Fig.l 23. The shield 55 is carried frictionally upon a rod or bar 56, which is carried by and which reciprocates with the cam-plate and is adaptedk upon reaching the end ofits strokes to be engaged by stops 74 75, Figs. 1, 2, 16, and 17, which are carried by the stationary frame of the machine. In the drawings these stops are shown formed by the inner ends of the stationary plates 67, Figs. 16 and 17.

supposing that the cam-plates are just commencing their stroke to the left, the shield 55 is in position to engage the latches of the needles as they are drawn inward, and as the cam-plate is advanced to the left the rod 56,

which frictionally carries the shield 55, is care sliding through its means of attachment to' lshield 55.

As soon as the movement of the cam-plates is reversed and they commence to move to the right rod 56 commences to move with them, and as the shield 55 is frictionally IOS IIO

carried by this rod it moves with it and'serves to engage the latches of the needles as they are moved inward by the right end of the now right-moving cams. It continues to move to the right until-that part of the cam which moves the needles inward passes away from them,'when it is engaged and stopped by a stop 75, carried by the stationary part of the frame, when it engages the latches .uponthe needles operated by the rear or left-hand end of the cam-plate, the movements of the machine being precisely the same upon each stroke.

The hand of a glove is knitted upon one machine and the fingers upon another machine, the fabric knitted by the iirst machine being cut into suitable lengths and then placed upon the needles of the second ma.- chine in order that the fingers may be knitted directly to the hand.

The danger of the latches of the needles piercing the fabric occurs during the rst pass of the cams after the hand portion has been placed upon the needles, as at this time there is an unusually thick mass of the fabric directly back of them. After the irstpass f of the cams the first course -of the finger portion is knitted to the hand portion, and there is no danger of the latches engaging the fabric. The thread will now close them, as usual. This being the case the shield 55 is adapted to work in connection with the needles engaging the thread carried by the front or forward thread-carrier.l The needles engaging the thread carried by the rear orfollowing thread-carrier have no shield to engage their latches, as it is unnecessary.

57 58, Figs. 1, 18, 19, 23, are latch-controlling guides carried by rods 38 40, which are carried by and reciprocate with the camplate, the lower ends of which as they are reciprocated past in front of the needles engage and hold the latches back against the needle-Shanks. These latch-controllers have to be made so as to operate upon both their forward and backward movements.

The controller 57 engages the needles operated by the cams upon the left of the camplate, the controller 58 those operated by the cams upon the right of the cam-plate. Without these controllers the latches not infrequently, owing to the' rapid movements of the needles, close the hooks of the needles prematurely, causing miss-stitches.,

The threads in passing from thelower ends of the thread-carriers pass down, under, and in contact with the under side of the horizontal portions of the controllers 57 58, as best shown in Fig. 23, and are thereby held in a position to insure their positive engagement by the hooks of the needles as these latter are drawn int-o the needle-bed.

In Fig. 23 the relative positions of the thread-carriers 30 3l, the latch-controllers 57 engages the latches of the needles', and ari inoperative side--that facing away from the needle-bed. The threads in passing from the lower ends of the thread-carriers engage the inoperative sides of the controllers 57 58, pass under these controllers and to the needles, the controllers holding the threads so that the hooks of the needles cannot miss engaging them.

57 58, Figs. 1, 2 1, 22, are knife-blades carried by the rod 38, which upon their movements to and fro across the fronts of the needles pick up and positively lift or open their latches, taking this duty from the threads and insuring perfect stitches for each needle.

The springs 45 46, carrying the stops 47 48, which serve to lock the slide 39, may be thrown out of action by the device best shown in Figs. 16 and 17. In these ligures the springs are shown carried upon a stationary plate 67,

which is adapted to be bolted to the station` ary frame of the machine.

68 is a sliding plate carrying a screw or stop 69, which passes through a slot 70 in spring 45. By sliding plate 68 inward the spring 45 is depressed sufciently to prevent the stop 47 engaging the notch in slide 37.

The outer thread-guide is furnished with a dovetailed projection 71 on its back, which is adapted to be held in a corresponding slot in its carryingstandard 72. Hence this guide maybe instantly lifted from place and another guide carrying a different-colored thread may be as quickly put in its place. At the end of the machine, Figs. 1 and 2, Ishow holders 73 for carrying when not in use several thread guides with dierent colored threads. These guides may be removed from the holders 73 and inserted in the carryingstandard 72 at any time when it is desired to place a diierent-colored thread in the fabric from the two originally'used.

As has been stated, the heads 32 of the thread-guides are carried upon springs 33. Should the front guide upon passing the rear one at the commencement of a stroke engage it, the springs carrying heads will yield and prevent breakage.

The needles travel in the usual guides 'in the needle-race 3, which is furnished with a transverse bar c, Figs. 7 and 8, under which they pass. They also pass under a bar d at the front of the race, these two bars insuring their movement in a plane in the direction of their length. The ordinary construction of the long needles permits their use Without change; but I furnish the short needles with a rearwardly-extending projection e to pass under the bar c.

f, Figs. l, 2, and 7, is a fly-wheel attached to or forming part of Icrank 13 or its carryingshaft to equalize the motion of the crank, the connecting-rod 11, the cam-plate 9, and connected parts.

In Figs. 1, 11, 12,-13, 14, and 15 it will be observed that the centers j 7c of the cams 14 15, which centers are projecting or rising IOO IOS

IIO

cams, are secured to the cam-plate 9 by means of screws g, which pass up through slots h in plate 9, said screws carrying thumb-nuts 12 which when set down lock the centers to the plate. By loosening the thumb-nuts the centers of the cams may be moved in or out to cause the needles to make atuck or halt' stitch at this point. Snpposing the center part j of the cam 14, Fig. ll, to be moved out, as shown by dotted lines, and the latch 19 of Vthis cam to be closed, as also shown by dotted lines, and the latch 2l of the cam l5 to be opened, a's also shown b y dotted lines, and the camplate to be passed from left to right, the short needles will first make a tuck-stitch and then a full stitch. The long needles Will make first afull stitch and then a tuck-stitch, and on the reverse movement the short needles will make iirst a tuck-stitch and then a full stitch, while the longineedles will make first a full stitch and then a tuck-stitch.

By means of the movable latches and movable central parts of the cams different combinations of full and tuck stitches can be made, as desired. 'p v Having thus described my. invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- Y l. In aknitting-machine,a projecting-cam, and a stitch-cam, one side of which is adapted to act upon one pass of the cam-plate as a rising cam and the other side of which is, tpon the opposite pass of the cam-plate, adapted to act as a tuck-stitch cam.

2. The combination in' a single plate .straight-knitting machine, of two double cams placed one directly behind the other, a cam-plate carrying said cams, latches at the ends of said cams and means for throwing said latches so as to shorten or lengthen said cams. e

3. The combination in aV single plate straightknitting machine, of two double cams placed one directly behind the other, a cam-plate carrying said cams, latches at each of the ends of said cams adapted in one position to shorten them,stemspassin g up through said cam-plate carrying said latches, arms carried by the upper ends of said stems, sliding rods carried by said `cam-plate, and stops carried by said rods adapted upon their` movement to engage and operate said arms to operate said latches to shorten or lengthen said cams. u ,4

4. The combination in a straight-knitting machine, of -a reciprocating cam -carrying plate, needles operated by the cams carried by said plate, means for carrying said needles,

a thread-carrier for carrying a thread to said needles, means for carrying and means for reciprocating said cam-carrying plate, means for carrying and means for reciprocatingsaid thread-carrier, a shield the opposite sides of which are similar, means to con uesaid shield to movements in a right line, said shield being adapted to prevent the latches of thencedles, upon each stroke, from engaging a fabric carried by the needles, and means for carrying and means for reciprocating said shield back and forth across and above said needles.

5. rlhe combination in a straight-knitting machine ofcams adapted upon each pass to give the needles two reciprocations, the needles, two thread-carriers, one adapted to carry a thread upon ,each reciprocation of the cams to the needles first actuated, and the other to carry a thread to the needles last actuated,

means for carrying and means for reciprocating said cams, means for carrying and means for causing-one of said thread-carriers upon both strokes of the machine to travelalways in advance of the other, a shield adapted to pre-` cam-plate to give two reciprocations to eachl of said needles, a front and rear thread-carrier guide for carrying threads to said needles, arms carried by and reciprocating with the cam-plate, and two latch-controllers, having operative and inoperative sides, carriedY by said arms, the operative sideof said latchcontrollers being adapted the one to hold open the latches of the needles operated by one cam, the other to hold open the latches 0f the needles operated bythe other cam upon both strokes of the cam-plate until just before the hooks of the needles engage the threads, and the inoperative sides to engage the threads as they pass from the threadcarriers to cause them to pass under the controllers to the hooks of the needles.

7. The combination in a straight-knitting machine of cams adapted upon each pass to give the needles two reciprocations, the needles, two thread-carriers, one adapted to carry a thread upon each reciprocation of the cams to the needles first actuated and the other. to carry a thread to the needles last actuated, means for carrying and means for reciprocating said cams, meansfor carrying and means for reciprocating said thread-carriers so that IIO one, as theL forward, upon both strokes of the Y adapted to reciprocate said needles, a threadcarrier guide for carrying a thread to saidneedles, and a latch-controller reciprocating with said cam-plate and placed between said thread-carrier and needles, and over the latter, the outer side of said controller engaging the thread and directing it to the hooks ofthe needles upon its under side.V

9. Means for operating the needles of aknitting-machine comprising, in combination, a cam-plate, a central and end cams carried by said plate, and latches for altering the elective length of said end cams.

10. The combination in a knitting-machine of the needles, the operating-cams, the camplate and means for driving the latter, of two rods or guides, one placed to the rear `of the other, carried by said cam-plate, a slide or carriage carried upon each of said rods or guides, adjustable stops carried by said rods or guides adapted to alternately engage the.

opposite ends of said slides or carriages, adjustable stops, carried by the stationary frame of the machine, adapted to engage and hold said inner carriage at the end oi. each of its strokes, cams carried by the inner rod or guide adapted to engage and lift said adjustable stops from engagement with said fcarriage, means whereby said cams may be thrown into or out of operative position, stops :carried by the frame of the machine forv limlatter stops into or out of operative position,

and spring-carried thread-guides carried by said carriages.

11. The combination with a knitting-machine furnished with a row of long and short needles placed alternately side by side and means for carrying two threads simultaneously to said needles, of two double cams placed one directly back of the other, one cam adapted to operate the long and the other cam adapted to operate the short needles, movable centers in said cams and movable latches at the ends of said cams whereby they may be adjusted so as .to cause said needles tomake either full or tuck stitches.

EDWARD PARKINSON. 

